Stories From An Aging Pandemic

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Africa

Originally I was from Scotland. I’ve been in South Africa now for 36 years. I think I befriended my little virus in South Africa – that’s 30 years ago. AIDS in South Africa in that time was very different to what it is now. It was bad. I worked with an organization who […]

I was working with a family, and somebody had some kind of blisters that week. I was in Australia then. I was away from home, I was away from a lot of people. I was alone. Even though I was in denial, I knew what this was, because I had been unwell. I don’t remember […]

At least be there for the mothers! I always tell my daughter that she saw me struggling in front of her, bringing them up as a single parent. She has to be there for their mother– for her kids as well. We were the faces of AIDS in the beginning, during those difficult […]

My partner at the time was having problems with his eyes. I had been speaking to him for some time about getting tested together. I said to him, “It’s time, now. I’m not suggesting any more – it’s time.” When he tested positive, I said, “Forget the test. Just do my CD4 count.” But they […]

I was a model, I ran the largest modeling agency in Zimbabwe. And I looked the part. Coming from high society, it was rare to find people of my type talking about HIV or to come out in the open to say they were HIV-positive. We have public figures, these celebrities. How come we don’t […]

I discovered my status after I gave birth, in 1997. I was sick and I went to see a doctor at the hospital. I asked for a checkup and they told me that I had HIV. The child was breastfed, and I didn’t know, so she got contaminated. It was already difficult for me to […]

Despite the health personnel saying that, “You isolate her,” my sister was there for me. My mother was there. Would sleep in the same room. My sister would be next to me on the same bed, you know. And that helped a lot. Because when your close relatives neglect you: Oooh! That is the worst […]

When I started working in 1984 as a doctor, I saw so many people whom I now know had AIDS, but we were never trained – it was not there during that time from ’79 up to ’84, when I went through the medical school. So, I worked – I’ve worked with hundreds, thousands. I’ve […]

So the first question was: Are you going to keep quiet or are you going to tell someone? It took 20 minutes for me to disclose. When I was in the counselor’s room, the counselor gave me the results in a stigmatizing way. He said, “Man of God, what are you going to do?” And […]

I decided to go back to school after I got fired from Barclay’s Bank because of my status. I was diagnosed in January 1988. My daughter was breast feeding at the time. I just got sick, and went to one doctor, another one, and another one, and it wasn’t getting better. And so eventually the […]

We women, we were really the leaders. Because we were the ones who were being blamed. But then it came to a situation where we said, “Enough is enough! We need to stand up and take leadership, and start to be open about our status.” I have got friends who have been killed because of […]

I found out about my HIV status 20 years ago, that was in 1990, I think. And, how I found out is when I had a cough, a persistent cough that didn’t go off. I was given medication for a while. And every time that I stopped medication, the cough would come. And then I […]